Improvement in vacuum-brakes



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F. W. EAMES Vacuum-Brakes. I

No. 215,592. Paten 3y 20,1879.

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. FREDERICK W. EAMES, OF WATERTOWN, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN VACUUM-BRAKES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 215,592, dated May 20, 1879; application filed February 25, 1879.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK W. EAMES, of Watertown, in the county of Jefferson and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Vacuum- Brakes; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

My present invention relates to pressurebrakes employed for braking or diminishing the speed and stopping the momentum of railroad trains and locomotives, and is applicable to such braking apparatus whether steam, compressed air, or the natural pressure of the atmosphere as opposed to a vacuum is the power employed to apply or release the brakes.

Heretofore the cylinders or vacuum-chambers employed for operating the brakes have been attached or secured to and beneath the body of the car, and generally, if not invariably, located about the center of the car, so that the whole strain of the braking power comes upon the car-body at that point, and consequently the tendency is to hump the carbody, strain and loosen the bolts .and connections, and thereby seriously affect and shortenthe efliciency and durability of the car.

My invention is designed to obviate this objection resulting from the use of the pressurebrake; and it consists, primarily, in securing the cylinders or vacuum-chambers directly to the frame-Work of the trucks, so that the body of the car is in no way affected by the strain of the brakes.

Another important improvement resulting from my invention is the simplification of the mechanism for connecting the piston or mov- .ing member of the brake apparatus with the ordinary train-brake, whereby the poweris applied directly to said braking apparatus without in any way interfering. with the operation of the hand-brakes, and without requiring to alter the construction of said hand-brake mechanism, all as hereinafter more fully set forth.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is Said vacuum-brake apparatus, so far as illustra ted' by the drawings, consists of the airpipe A and branch pipes A, leading into the vacuum-chambers B, which are provided with elastic diaphragms B, and the device operates by the inward movement of the elastic diaphragm consequent upon the formation of a vacuum within the pipes and chambers.

My present improvements, however, are not confined to the use of this particular apparatus, as cylinders and pistons might be substituted for the chambers B; and such devices might be operated by compressed air, steam, or other elastic fluid under pressure or by hydraulic power, as found most convenient and desirable.

0 represents the wheels, and D D the framework, of an ordinary railway-car truck. E represents the brakes; F, the brake-beams, and G the system of levers and connectingrods, chains, and windlasses which constitute the ordinary hand-brake mechanism in general use in this country, and known as the Hodge and Stevens brakes. G is that portion of said mechanism which is generally known as the dead-lever. All these parts are old and well-known devices, and I therefore lay no claim to their invention.

The vacuum-chamber or pressure-cylinder and piston, as the case may be, I secure to the frame of the truck, preferably to the central cross-beam, D, in any convenient and suitable manner, and at a point as near the center of the beam as practicable, and preferably on the side nearest the center of the car. This brings the piston-rod or moving member of the pressure brake apparatus directly opposite the lever G, so that the two can be readily connected by means of a link or chain, H.

From the foregoing it will be evident to those skilled in the art that two important re sults are accomplished by the location of the pressure apparatus in the position shown and described, viz: all strain of the braking mechanism is removed from the body of the car, and

' the power is applied directly to the hand-brake pose specified.

2. The combination of a cylinder, vacuumchamber, or diaphragm, located substantially v as described, with the system of levers, rods,

chains, &c., which constitute the ordinary brake mechanism of a railroad-car, connected together by a rod, link, or chain, H, arranged substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

FRED. W. EAMES.

Witnesses:

DE WITT J. CUMINGS, OHAs. D. BINGHAM. 

